General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Property and Conveyances

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Property and Conveyances

Passed

P HB264

Landlord and tenant law; appointment of resident agent by nonresident property owner. Requires that the Secretary of the Commonwealth, when acting as an agent for nonresident property owners, shall forward service of process to the address shown on the official tax record of the locality. Currently, it is to be sent to the address shown on the lease.
Patron - Ware, O.

P HB580

Mold conditions involving landlords and tenants. Provides for mold remediation and the process for notice from tenant to landlord regarding mold.
Patron - Cosgrove

P HB720

Landlord and tenant law; definitions; payment of rent; landlord remedies. Adds, among other things, a definition of "application fee," caps the fee at $50, and provides that such fee is nonrefundable. The bill also defines "written notice" as notice, including any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed in or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic form or other medium, retrievable in a perceivable form, and regardless of whether an electronic signature is affixed. In cases where a tenant pays rent with a bad check, the bill also allows a landlord to seek an award of costs or attorney fees or the lesser of $250 or three times the amount of the bad check, draft or order as part of the damages requested on an unlawful detainer action, provided the landlord has given notice. The bill allows such notice to be included in the five-day termination notice at the option of the landlord. The bill contains specific provisions if the dwelling unit is a public housing unit or other housing unit subject to regulation by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The bill contains technical amendments.
Patron - Oder

P HB949

Slayer statute. Amends the definition of "slayer" to include a person who is convicted of voluntary manslaughter. The bill also amends the definition of "slayer" to include a person who is acquitted of murder or involuntary manslaughter, but who is determined, by a preponderance of the evidence, either before or after his death, by a court to have committed murder or involuntary manslaughter. The bill also provides that transferees or assignees claiming through a slayer cannot acquire property or benefits as a result of the slaying. The bill also provides that insurance companies are not liable on life insurance policies acquired by the slayer for the decedent if (i) the policy was procured by the slayer as part of the plan to murder the decedent, and (ii) the decedent's death from the slayer's act was within two years of the date the policy was issued. The bill also provides that the slayer statute does not serve to abrogate any common law right or remedy that prevent a slayer from profiting from his crime. The bill also makes several clarifying amendments to the slayer statute. This bill is identical to SB 450.
Patron - Iaquinto

P HB972

Ford and Pullman property grants. Ratifies the conveyance of certain lands in the County of Fairfax by the Commonwealth in 1951 and 1962.
Patron - Shannon

P HB1037

Sale or conversion of nonprofit hospitals; public hearing. Requires that, no later than 40 days prior to any disposition of assets, a nonprofit entity shall convene a public meeting to set forth its expectations about how the health care needs of the community will be served following the proposed disposition of assets and to receive comments and respond to questions on the potential impact of the proposed disposition of assets on the community served by the nonprofit entity. This bill also provides that notice of the time and place of such meeting shall be published at least 10 days prior to the meeting in a newspaper in which legal notices may be published in that jurisdiction.
Patron - Marshall, D.W.

P HB1077

Virginia Real Estate Time Share Act; obligation for fees; limitation on actions; powers of Real Estate Board. Allows a developer, during the developer control period and at any time after the lapse of a purchaser's right of cancellation, and without regard to the recordation of the deed, to collect an annual or specially assessed charge from each time-share estate owner for the payment of the time-share estate occupancy expenses by way of a maintenance fee. The bill also provides that prior to the commencement of any action alleging a failure to comply with the provisions relating to escrow of deposits or the developer's obligation to complete common elements, an aggrieved owner shall first seek a determination from the Real Estate Board as to whether compliance with such provisions has occurred. The Board shall make such determination within 120 days of the request therefor. The bill contains technical amendments. Finally, the bill provides that rescission of a contract shall not be granted by a court unless the inaccuracy of the public offering statement or the insufficiency of the time-share instrument directly and adversely affected the purchaser's right to participate in the time-share program or to own his time-share. Further, if damages are awarded, the amount of the damages shall be limited to actual damages sustained notwithstanding any other law to the contrary.
Patron - Suit

P HB1240

Manufactured Home Lot Rental Act; access of tenant to cable, satellite and other television facilities. Authorizes a landlord of a manufactured housing community to enter into a service agreement with a television service provider to provide marketing and other services to the television service provider and to receive compensation for the services. Compensation under such service agreement may also include the reasonable value of the landlord's property that is used by the television service provider. This is similar to the authorization provided to a landlord under the Virginia Residential Landlord and Tenant Act.
Patron - Saxman

P HB1313

Unclaimed property; credit union accounts. Provides state-chartered credit unions with the same flexibility regarding inactive or dormant account fees and interest that federally-chartered credit unions may exercise under applicable federal law. SB 137 is identical.
Patron - Byron

P HB1320

Road easements; maintenance and improvements. Provides that any property owner, along a road that serves as the primary means of ingress and egress to more than one property, may maintain, repair, or improve the road without the express permission of the other property owners.
Patron - May

P HB1470

Home owner warranty breach; tolling of limitations period. States that when a homeowner sends notice to a vendor of a warranty violation, that the statute of limitations is tolled for six months. The provision will apply to warranty claims arising after January 1, 2009.
Patron - Gilbert

P SB137

Unclaimed property; credit union accounts. Provides state-chartered credit unions with the same flexibility regarding inactive or dormant account fees and interest that federally chartered credit unions may exercise under applicable federal law. HB 1313 is identical.
Patron - Puller

P SB450

P SB606

Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act; assessments for certain cooperatives. Authorizes a real estate cooperative, where permanent residency is generally restricted to individuals age 55 and over and the primary purpose of the cooperative is to provide services typically provided to residents of full service senior housing communities, to amend the declaration by a two-thirds vote to authorize assessments based on usage of services rather than the square footage of the units.
Patron - Stolle

P SB616

Virginia Real Estate Cooperative Act; amendment of declaration. Provides that the declaration may be amended by two-thirds vote to extend the time limit within which special declarant rights imposed by the declaration may be exercised. Currently such an amendment would require unanimous consent.
Patron - Stolle

P SB797

High-risk mortgage lenders or servicers; 10 days' notice; 30 days' forbearance. Requires high-risk mortgage lenders or servicers to provide written notice of the intention to send a notice to accelerate the loan balance 10 business days prior to sending the notice of acceleration. If the borrower indicates the desire to avoid foreclosure, the high-risk mortgage lender or servicer shall give the borrower 30 calendar days' forbearance. The measure does not apply if the lender makes fewer than four mortgage loans in any 12-month period, if there is an active bankruptcy proceeding, or if a foreclosure sale is scheduled to occur within 30 days.
Patron - Puckett

Failed

F HB49

Utility easements. Provides that any conveyance of an easement for the location, construction, or installation of facilities to be used to provide utility services shall be subject to the condition that it is void if the easement has not been used within 20 years.
Patron - Cole

F HB363

Requirement to report and remit escheat funds to the State Treasurer; exemption. States that any account or property valued at $15 or less is exempt from being reported and remitted to the State Treasurer (administrator).
Patron - Purkey

F HB476

Doctrine of necessaries; repealed. Repeals § 55-37, relating to the doctrine of necessaries, which obliges each spouse to provide basic necessities of the other spouse such as housing, medical care, and nourishment.
Patron - Cox

F HB488

Notice of an escheat land sale. Requires that the escheator notify adjacent land owners of escheated land of an escheat land sale.
Patron - Shuler

F HB540

Deed; cemetery usage disclosed. Requires the disclosure of whether property is, or has been, used as a cemetery or burial ground when recording the deed.
Patron - Orrock

F HB778

Recordation of deeds. Requires that a deed be filed for recordation within 120 days of the transaction that conveyed or transferred the real property that is the subject of the deed.
Patron - Kilgore

F HB962

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; disclosure of storm water detention facilities. Requires the owner to disclose to the purchaser prior to settlement the presence of any storm water detention facilities on the property.
Patron - Shannon

F HB997

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; required disclosures; mold. Clarifies that the term "condition of the real property or any improvements thereon" shall include any visible evidence of the presence of mold.
Patron - Bell

F HB1002

Condominium Act; notice of increased assessments. Provides that the written notice to the unit owners of an additional assessment levied by the board of a condominium association shall be sent no more than 30 days from the date of the meeting wherein the board voted to levy the additional assessment.
Patron - Bell

F HB1076

Property Owners' Association Act (POAA); definitions; disclosure packets; management; fees. Adds several new definitions to the POAA, including "common interest community manager." The bill also sets limits for the fees to be charged for preparation of the required disclosure packets and prohibits any other fees not expressly authorized in the POAA. The bill (i) provides that all declarations shall comply with the terms of the POAA, and the associations created in accordance with the POAA shall have only those powers that are expressly granted in the POAA; (ii) increases the cap on the liability of the association or its manager from $500 to $5,000 for actual damages sustained by the seller in the event of the association's failure to comply with the POAA; and (iii) provides that if settlement does not occur within 90 days of the delivery of the disclosure packet, the fee shall be assessed against the lot owner for which the disclosure packet was prepared and shall become as an assessment against the member's lot. The bill contains technical amendments, which reorganize the POAA into three articles: general provisions, disclosure requirements, and operation and management of associations. This bill was incorporated into HB 516.
Patron - Suit

F HB1405

Virginia Residential Property Disclosure Act; disclosure of storage tanks. Requires the owner to disclose to the purchaser prior to settlement the presence of any aboveground or underground storage tanks on the property. The bill defines aboveground storage tank and underground storage tank.
Patron - Hargrove

F HB1467

Property and conveyances; leases; prohibited covenants. Prohibits any lease for nonresidential property agreed to, executed or renewed on or after July 1, 2008, that contains a covenant restricting the lessor from entering into additional leases with additional parties that compete with the lessee's lines of business, unless the additional party's intended lines of business are in direct competition with no less than a majority of the lessee's lines of business. The bill provides that a lease in violation of this prohibition shall be deemed a prohibited contract in restraint of trade.
Patron - Shannon

F SB792

Real Estate Tax Credit. Provides a tax credit for real estate taxes paid on property purchased from the Commonwealth when such taxes were paid on such property prior to its acquisition.
Patron - McDougle

Carried Over

C SB421

Conveyance of property owned by the Commonwealth; easement; Bland County. Authorizes the Commonwealth to convey an easement across certain property in the County of Bland along State Route 665 to Elmo Sadler.
Patron - Puckett

C SB454

C SB583

Uniform Disposition of Unclaimed Property Act; banks and financial organizations. Reduces the holding period for abandonment for unclaimed property for banks and financial organizations from five years to two years for banks or organizations that deduct a charge or cease to accrue interest because of dormancy or inactivity. The measure also provides that if a holder of the property ceases imposing additional charges or retroactively credits interest on dormant or inactive property for a reason other than to correct a documented internal error, the holder is deemed to have waived its right to impose the charges or cease accruing interest and shall reverse or cancel the charges or retroactively credit interest on accounts reported to the Treasurer. The second provision is stated to be declaratory of existing law.
Patron - Colgan

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General Assembly>Division of Legislative Services>Publications>Session Summaries>2008>Property and Conveyances

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